Ellen's Battle with the Groundswell: Social Media Marketing Project Part Two
Previously, we looked at the impact on The Ellen Degeneres Show from its recent summer scandal alleging a toxic workplace environment plagued with mistreatment and abuse, including staffers and Ellen herself. We’ll now analyze Ellen’s ratings and analytics some weeks after her post scandal season premiere, and determine if she has won back the viewership of her once large and devoted audience. We can also see if her social media outreach and presence has at all changed in response to her lack of ratings. Is her team doing anything new to bring back or grow her audience? Is Ellen using her huge platform in a constructive way right now given the current divisive political climate? Maybe Ellen’s light-hearted, pop culture content is not working and she needs to shake it up a bit. Taking a stronger stand in the upcoming election might help her, especially as Trump stands for the exact opposite of which Ellen’s show is based, namely kindness and empathy.
Analytics and Analysis:
Ellen began the current season (season 18) with a decrease in ratings. With most Americans currently working from home or spending their days attending lectures on Zoom, you would think that TV ratings would be somewhat higher than usual as more people are home during the day. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for the Ellen Show, as her current Season 18 ratings have plummeted in comparison to recent past seasons. In addition, Ellen’s popularity on google trends has been steadily decreasing since the summer, proving how people might be moving on from her and that the scandal negatively affected her brand.
Even in the past few weeks, The Ellen Degeneres Show’s ratings have been declining steadily. Currently, the show is pulling 37% fewer viewers than last October, while other shows such as Live with Kelly and Ryan, have received a significant increase in ratings. Similarly, The Kelly Clarkson Show is doing much better in ratings than the Ellen Show, and many even predict that Kelly will soon dethrone the “be kind to everyone" queen of daytime TV. So, it seems as if quarantine has helped TV engagement, but not Ellen’s.
Despite Ellen’s ratings decline, she is still somewhat more popular than her daytime competitors online. Ellen’s strength and prevalence on social media is at 5%, which is stronger than all other talk shows. Commentary surrounding Ellen and her show is primarily neutral. Based on the Social Mention analysis and comparison to another similar show (Live with Kelly and Ryan), you would not think that Ellen’s ratings have taken such a hit. However, it seems that people are still discussing Ellen online, whether it by a funny meme surrounding the controversy or highlighting her apparent hypocrisy. This could be why her strength is higher than that of her competitors, despite the fact they haven't received much of a drop in ratings.
In addition, celebrity anecdotes and negative experiences with the star continue. Ryan Phillipe is the most recent celebrity to make a dig at Ellen on his Instagram, as he posed alongside a billboard for the show while pointing out the hypocrisy in its message of promoting kindness. Posts like this as well as stories recounted by celebrities can’t be helpful to Ellen and her brand as they try to move on from the summer.
Ellen’s activity on social media has not changed at all the past few weeks, despite the drop in ratings. Ellen is still being her usual self, trying to keep her brand relevant by attaching her name to many celebrities and trends. In terms of people discussing her on social media, I haven’t seen a major shift in how she is commonly portrayed online, most of the time it’s in meme format or someone making light of the situation, so it seems as if people still think it’s a funny situation.
Goals for Success:
Interact more with the Groundswell and her fans
Ellen could personalize her social media platforms in order to create more of an authentic connection with fans. Most people can tell when a celebrity/brand account is run by a team, and it seems that is the case with Ellen’s platforms. To prove that she actually reads and appreciates people's messages and words, Ellen would be smart to directly interact with the groundswell by replying back to comments and answering questions. Brands that are interactive with their customers or fans provide a more direct line of communication that seems to care more about consumers' opinions and responses. By occasionally responding to fans directly, Ellen would appear more genuine, which could greatly help her after the scandal. Ellen desperately needs people to believe that she is everything she portrays herself to be: a kind, genuine and authentic person that deeply cares about others. This might be easier to accomplish if she made her social media presence less generic and more personable to her fans. People would likely be more willing to comment on her posts, or tag her in tweets for example if they knew she would actually see it and respond. Despite the fact that people in the groundswell are interacting with one another through discussion of Ellen’s show or in her comments, Ellen herself, or even people from her team, are missing from that conversation. A business hoping to regain people’s trust and admiration would be smart to directly convey their feelings and be sure to let people know what they stand for.
Ellen acknowledging, responding and taking input from her fans would highlight the importance of word of mouth advertising, as she understands that what people are saying to and about her is essential to the success of her brand. Not only would customers and fans feel a deeper personal connection to Degeneres, but it would also be a smart brand move as input from consumers is so valuable.
Take a more active role in social justice and politics
Though The Ellen Degeneres Show occasionally posts politiical content on their social media accounts, the brand could definitely take a more active role. With such a critical and crucial election in just a few days, all brands and celebrities should be utilizing their platforms to explain how important voting is and how this election is the most important thing going on in the country right now. Ellen does however make some tweets and or instagram posts saying GO VOTE, but why doesn’t she have a link on her site that leads directly to voting registration? During this chaotic time in our country, those with such large platforms need to be advocating for social justice and change, and right now that advocacy is voting. Instead of her usual, lighthearted and rather apolitical content, perhaps it would help Ellen to be posting more political content to keep her fans informed. For example, she could make videos and instagram reels depicting the importance of fighting for climate change, and the impact this election will have on the future of our planet. She could do an instagram live with an activist or a congress person to relay the importance of voting and discuss the Black Lives Matter Movement. Also, since Ellen wants to get back her “kind” persona that she was so famously known, she should be advocatinig against the guy who is everything but kind. Ellen has posted support in the past for Biden, so if she really cares about Biden defeating Trump, she should be all in with her show and social media because that is what she believes.
As Ellen has such a wide target audience consisting of practically all age groups, she should be doing this political and justice outreach on all of her platforms. On facebook, she’ll get the attention of the older generations and tik tok/instagram will catch Gen Z’s focus. With a broad and extensive target audience, Ellen has the ability to make an impact on a wide range of people. One could argue that right now we could use more comedy and light heartedness, but at the same time, it could really benefit Ellen to find a way to use her platform to not only entertain, but also to inform and educate.
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